Shihezi (Chinese: 石河子; pinyin: Shíhézǐ; Uyghur: شىخەنزە‎, ULY: Shihenze, UPNY: Xihənzə^?) is a sub-prefecture-level city in northern Xinjiang, People's Republic of China.

Shihezi is the second largest city in Xinjiang, after Ürümqi.

Its population is about 640,000 (2007), with the majority of the residents being Han Chinese and minorities making up 5.4% of the population.

Shihezi is located at the northern foothills of the middle part of the Tian Shan range approximately 136 kilometres (85 mi) from the regional capital of Ürümqi.

Although Shihezi is almost surrounded from east, west, and north by Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture (which also includes the city's eastern neighbor, the much older historically Hui town of Manas), it is not a part of it.

Located in an area further from the nearest seacoast than any other region on earth, Shihezi has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), with very large temperature differences between summer and winter. Monthly average temperatures range from −15.3 °C (4.5 °F) in January to 25.3 °C (77.5 °F), and the annual mean temperature is 7.39 °C (45.3 °F). Precipitation is very low year-round, with an annual total of only 206 millimetres (8.11 in), compared to the annual evaporation rate, which is usually more than 1,000 millimetres (39 in).